Link Financial: what a letter means and what to do

A letter from Link is often the first you hear that your account has moved, and it may concern a loan that is up to date as well as one in arrears. It is not a court document. Check which account it is about, who owns it now, and whether the balance is right before you pay anything. This guide covers England and Wales.

Who are Link Financial, and why are they contacting you?

Letters usually come from Link Financial Outsourcing Limited, company number 07059696, incorporated in 2009 and active, with its registered office in London. Companies House shows it is owned by LF Outsourcing Holdings Limited.

It has been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority since 11 April 2014, firm reference number 606817. Its permissions include debt collecting, debt administration, exercising a lender’s rights under regulated credit agreements and administering regulated mortgages. It cannot hold client money. The FCA register lists 14 trading names for it, including Vasco Finance, Antelope Loans, Victoria Asset Finance and Oodle, so you may see one of those names on paperwork alongside Link’s.

Link says it is part of the Link Financial Group, which has worked with European financial institutions since 1998. In the UK it services credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, student loans, car finance, utility bills and equipment leases. It says it follows the standards of the Credit Services Association, UK Finance and the Finance and Leasing Association.

Other, unrelated businesses also use the word Link in their names. Check that your letter names Link Financial Outsourcing Limited.

Servicer, buyer or both?

Link does two jobs. It manages loans for lenders and investors (it calls this loan servicing), and it buys loan books, which it says it has done with investor partners since 1998. On its customer site Link explains that banks, card companies and other lenders sometimes transfer their loans to Link, and that from then on you pay Link instead of your original lender.

In practice that means:

• the company you borrowed from is usually no longer involved, and the notice you received should say who now owns the debt
• payments made to the original lender by mistake are passed on to Link, Link says, although this can delay them reaching your account
• your rights under the original agreement do not disappear because the loan has moved

What is a notice of assignment?

When a debt is sold, the sale only takes full legal effect once you have been told in writing. Link says that whenever a debt passes to it, it sends a notice of assignment confirming the debt is now due to Link, and that the notice will say whether interest is still being added. For a regulated credit agreement, the person the lender’s rights have passed to is treated as the creditor, so your Consumer Credit Act rights now apply against the new owner.

Is the debt yours, and is the amount right?

Check before you pay or admit anything.

1. Compare the letter with your records: the original lender, account number and balance.
2. Write to Link asking who owns the debt now, the original account details, the date it was transferred, the default date if there is one, whether interest is being added, and a breakdown of the balance. Firms must give you information about the arrears and the balance. See how to ask a creditor to prove a debt.
3. For a regulated credit agreement, you can ask the creditor for a copy of the agreement and a statement, in writing with a £1 fee. It has 12 working days to reply and cannot enforce the agreement while it fails to do so.
4. Check your credit file with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Link says it reports to credit reference agencies and marks a debt as “satisfied” once it is repaid.
5. If the account has been in default a long time, check whether it could be statute-barred. In England and Wales most debts cannot be recovered through the courts once 6 years have passed from when the creditor could first sue, but a payment or signed written acknowledgement before then restarts the clock.

If you dispute the debt, say so in writing with your reasons. Where there are valid grounds, or what appear to be, the firm must suspend collection, investigate and tell you the outcome. It must not pursue someone it believes may not owe the money, or keep demanding payment once you say a debt is statute-barred.

What can Link do, and what can it not do?

These limits come from the FCA’s debt collection rules. Harassing someone with payment demands designed to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or falsely claiming official authority, can also be a criminal offence.

Interest on a Link account

Link says the majority of accounts it manages do not build up interest during collections, and that it prefers to agree repayment without extra costs. It says a small group of personal loans are charged interest at the original contractual rate, capped at what the original lender could have charged, and that if an account goes to its internal legal team, statutory interest is charged up to judgment. If your balance is going up, ask Link in writing to explain every charge.

What should you do at each stage?

When the first letter arrives

Check which account it is about and whether it is up to date or in arrears. If you were paying the original lender, set up payments to Link instead once you are satisfied the transfer is genuine. If you are behind and getting debt advice, tell Link: a firm told that you, or an adviser, are working out a repayment plan must pause active collection for a reasonable period.

If you can pay something, or settle

Budget first so that priority bills such as rent or mortgage, council tax and energy come first. The firm must consider a reasonable offer and explain clearly if it refuses. Link says it considers lump-sum settlement offers based on the balance and your circumstances, and that if one is accepted, the rest of the debt is written off when your payment arrives. Get any acceptance in writing before you pay. Our guide to full and final settlement explains how to make an offer.

If you pay by continuous payment authority on a debit card, Link says you can cancel it at any time through Link or your card provider.

If you get a Letter of Claim

Link says it takes legal action to recover debts but will always tell you, or your adviser, first. The formal warning is a Letter of Claim, with an information sheet, reply form and financial statement. You have 30 days from its date to reply. If you say you are getting debt advice, the creditor should not start court action until at least 30 days after it receives your reply form, and not while you keep to an agreed plan.

If a court claim form arrives

Respond by the date on it. You can pay, admit the debt and offer instalments, or defend all or part of it, and if you are not paying in full you can ask for another 14 days. See a Money Claim Online claim form. Ignoring it usually leads to a county court judgment, which stays on the register for 6 years unless you pay it in full within one calendar month. Judgments on regulated consumer credit agreements can only be enforced in the County Court.

How do debt solutions affect Link?

• Breathing Space: creditors cannot contact you about included debts, add interest or charges, or take enforcement action, for up to 60 days (England and Wales only).
• A debt management plan: informal, so creditors do not have to agree, freeze interest or stop action. Link says it works with debt advisers and treats every debt case by case.
• An IVA: a legally binding agreement under the Insolvency Act 1986. Creditors bound by it cannot take further action to recover the debts included in it. Protocol IVAs usually last 5 or 6 years, fees come out of your payments, and it usually stays on your credit file for 6 years from the start. See does an IVA stop debt collectors?
• A debt relief order: for debts under £50,000, less than £75 a month spare, assets under £2,000 and a vehicle worth less than £4,000. Creditors cannot pursue listed debts during the order without the court’s permission.
• Bankruptcy: creditors owed debts in the bankruptcy have no remedy against your property or you personally for those debts.

Secured debts such as mortgages work differently: missing payments can put your home at risk, so get advice quickly if Link manages your mortgage. The debt solutions comparison sets the options side by side. Each has costs and long-term effects, and none suits everyone.

How do you complain about Link Financial?

1. Complain to Link’s complaints and dispute resolution team, using the details on your letter or Link’s official website. Link publishes a complaint handling procedure and complaint form there.
2. If you are unhappy with the final response, or 8 weeks have passed, you can take a complaint about a credit account to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You normally have 6 months from the final response.
3. If the complaint is about how the original loan was sold to you, you can also raise it with the original lender.

Our guide to dealing with debt collectors explains your wider rights.

Is this letter really from Link?

• A genuine letter names the original lender and gives a Link reference number, which Link asks you to quote whenever you contact it.
• Contact Link only through the details on your paperwork, Link’s official website or the FCA register (firm reference number 606817), not a number or link in an unexpected message.
• If you are unsure the transfer happened, ask your original lender, using details you already trust, whether your account moved to Link.
• Be wary of anyone who rushes you to pay into an account you do not recognise.

What to do next

1. Read the notice carefully and note who owns the debt, the balance and whether interest is being added.
2. Ask Link in writing for anything missing, and dispute anything that is wrong.
3. Get free, impartial debt advice from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline if you are struggling. See where to get free debt advice.
4. If you get a Letter of Claim or court papers, reply by the deadline.